Many electronic devices, particularly mobile electronic devices, comprise one or a plurality of printed circuits boards and user interfaces such as keyboards, screens, microphones, or cameras. To electrically interconnect boards and user interfaces, electrical connectors generally associated with flexible connection strips having conductive tracks formed thereon are used. Each connector comprises a first element assembled on a printed circuit board or on a user interface, and a complementary element connected to a connection strip. Components are currently mounted on the printed circuit board or the user interface, around the first connector element, to associate certain functions with the connector. For example, in the case of a connector used in a cell phone, these components may be common-mode filters.
In practice, the elements of a connector comprising metal strips are manufactured from a block or an electrically-insulating frame, for example, made of thermoformed plastic, having metal strips placed thereon. The space separating two adjacent strips and the strip width are then imposed by mechanical considerations. Currently, the metal strips have a width of at least 100 μm, and two adjacent strips are separated by at least 150 μm. Thus, due to the fact that the dimensions of the strips and the space separating two adjacent strips are difficult to decrease, the dimensions of a connector element are difficult to decrease. Further, each contact strip is necessarily connected to a determined pad of the support having the connector element mounted thereon.
It would be desirable to have an electrical connector element particularly having the advantage of overcoming at least some of the disadvantages of an electrical connector element comprising metal strips.